Mini Frittatas

Man alive, do I love StumbleUpon and Pinterest! Browsing through these sites last night, I found a recipe for mini frittatas that were baked in cupcake pans. I hadn't had anything planned for breakfast, so...

Ingredients:

I made five. One is missing from this picture. I have no idea
where it went. *munch munch munch*
... what?

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (full fat) OR organic heavy cream
• any fillings
• mushrooms
• celery
• carrots
• spinach
• bacon
• ham
• and so on...
• spices to taste

I've been doing a lot of cooking with ghee lately, which is clarified butter and is therefore dairy. (Thus, I opted for coconut milk instead.) Dairy, for the most part, is a Paleo no-no for several reasons: it spikes blood sugar; it usually contains growth hormones and other junk unless it comes from sources that are actually well taken care of (ie: grassfed, no GMOs, etc.); it's often modified with high fructose corn syrup in cheaper brands; and in my own experience, it makes my skin break out something horrible. But the beautiful part of ghee is that it's pretty much nothing but fat! It's butter that has been boiled to separate the fats from the dairy, so it has the texture of butter and can be used when butter is called for, but it has none of the dairy components that usually trigger reactions. I kicked my dairy addiction years ago after realizing that my dairy cravings always resulted in menstrual cramps that made me quite literally beg for death, and so was a little hesitant when I started using small amounts of it again, even though I've not had any bad reactions. Truthfully, if a recipe calls for dairy, I try to use a coconut base instead, and it works out well.

Directions:

1. Get a small mixing bowl, a whisk, a cupcake pan, and an oven. No, an Easy-Bake Oven will not suffice
2. Preheat your big-boy-or-girl oven to 350
3. Add eggs, coconut milk, and spices together in your bowl and whisk away to get the mixture nice and frothy
4. Coat pan with a cooking oil, spread, or spray
5. Pour egg mixture into about 4-6 spaces, depending on how large they are. Fill only halfway with egg, then add your fillings and stir gently to mix together
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes

Where's my proton pack...?

A note of caution-- it's okay if these start out seeming a little under-filled. I made only 5 by pouring too much into each space, and as a result had egg growing out of the cupcake spaces like a marshmallow in a microwave. It looked hot and really angry. --->

And so breakfast/brunch consisted of 2 1/2 of these yummy mini frittatas, a Granny Smith apple, and a little bit of crunchy almond butter. Another recipe/cooking technique I'll have to add to my list!